Network adapters may be devices that are provided as part of a computer or another computing device (a host) and are used to offload some network processing from a CPU of the host. Thus, network adapters can include, for example, host bus adapters (HBAs) that connect to Fibre Channel, SCSI, SAS, Ethernet or other types of networks or network interface cards (NICs) that connect to Ethernet and other types of networks.
Many existing networks, such as Fibre Channel and SAS, feature zoning. Zoning refers to the ability to define zones within a network and limit the ability of devices of the network to communicate with other devices based on the zones. More specifically, multiple zones, each including two or more devices may be defined, and each device is only allowed to communicate with other devices that belong to its zone. Thus, zoning would allow one to treat one larger network as multiple separate smaller networks.
In many occasions, multiple smaller networks may be desirable because of security, ease of use, error protection, malware protection and other similar concerns. However, in some of these occasions, it may be more cost efficient to provide a single larger network. Therefore, zoning may be useful to logically split a larger physical network into several smaller logical ones.
In the present disclosure, devices that are within the network fabric such as routers, switches, hubs and the like, (also referred to as network elements) are to be distinguished from network adapters. Network adapters are devices, such as HBAs and NICs, that are part of a network end point, i.e., a computer or another device that actually uses the network for communications. Network elements, on the other hand, are part of the network infrastructure. They provide communication services to the end points but do not use the network for higher level communications that are unrelated to the task of providing network services. Thus, for example, a router may communicate through the network with other routers in order to update internal routing tables. But since these communications are entirely related to providing network services (i.e., routing packets), the router is still a network element. On the other hand, a web server is an end point, as it uses the network for higher level communications that are not strictly related to the network infrastructure. Thus, an adapter that is part of the web server, such as an HBA or a NIC may be considered to be a network adapter.
Zoning is usually enforced in the network fabric (i.e., by various network elements, such as switches, routers, etc.) As a result, networks that feature zoning often require relatively more complex and higher cost network elements than would be needed if these networks did not feature zoning.
Due to recent improvements in the speed and reliability of Ethernet communications, there have been suggestions and developments to modify more complex networks (such as Fibre Channel, SCSI and SAS networks) so that they utilize the simpler and more ubiquitous Ethernet. Thus, for example, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) would allow devices to perform Fibre Channel communications over an Ethernet network.
However, Ethernet networks do not usually support zoning. Thus, standard Ethernet network elements (e.g., switches, etc.) usually do not provide zoning services to an FCoE network. Thus, if an existing Ethernet network includes a large number of FCoE enabled end devices, a large number of FCoE network elements may also need to be used to properly enforce zoning. This may increase the overall cost of the network.